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The Grenfell Tower Inquiry restarted hearings this week after a month-long summer break and heard evidence from the two contractors with the biggest role in the fatally-flawed tower-block refurbishment that led to 2017鈥檚 fire.

On Monday, main contractor Rydon鈥檚 former commercial manager Zak Maynard was quizzed about financial pressures faced by the project before work on site started and difficulties in finding partners for the work.

The inquiry heard Rydon had 鈥渟truggled鈥� to get interest from cladding contractors that it asked to provide estimates for its bid and that Harley Curtain Wall 鈥� later Harley Facades 鈥� had been the only one interested in the job.

Maynard told the inquiry that as Rydon had only used Harley on its previous tower refurbishment jobs, its 鈥渄atabase or knowledge of subcontractors was probably limited鈥� in a way he thought had restricted its bid work.

He added that it was not unusual for contractors to be reluctant to quote on project bids.

鈥淎 lot of people aren鈥檛 necessarily keen on pricing jobs when they鈥檙e just not a live job or a firm project. So I think that quite often the estimators come up against that battle,鈥� he said.

Maynard was also quizzed about Rydon鈥檚 attempts to compensate for a 拢212,000 error in the calculations underpinning its successful 拢9.2m bid for the Grenfell Tower refurbishment.

Over three weeks of evidence, which started back in July, senior managers at Rydon routinely said they had relied on their specialist contractors to make up for shortfalls in their in-house expertise.

On Tuesday, the director of facades specialist Harley, Ray Bailey, insisted that his firm did not bear ultimate responsibility for the design and materials of the cladding system fitted to Grenfell Tower during the refurbishment.

The first phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has already established that the aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding and insulation products fitted to the block were not compliant with building regulations and were responsible for the severity of 2017鈥檚 fire, which claimed 72 lives.

Asked directly by inquiry barrister Richard Millett QC whether the buck stopped with Harley for the cladding, Bailey replied 鈥渘o鈥�.

He said the firm was just one of a 鈥渞aft of layers鈥� with design safety input on the project, that included project architect Studio E, fire consultant Exova and Kensington and Chelsea council鈥檚 building control officers.

鈥淲e have our designs and the expertise is in the cladding and how it鈥檚 attached to the building, how we get it to site on time, how we make it fit,鈥� he said. 鈥淥n particular items, where we鈥檙e not entirely clear, we ask questions of the architect, of the specialist, of building control, to ensure that it complies.鈥�

On Wednesday, Bailey admitted he had a wrongly believed that two categories of fire rating for materials 鈥� 鈥淐lass O鈥� and the 鈥渓imited combustibility鈥� description 鈥� were interchangeable, a confusion he said was shared across the wider industry.

Bailey told the inquiry that Harley had relied on assurances from manufacturers of Celotex RS5000 insulation and Reynobond PE55 ACM panels that the products were safe to use as part of its cladding system for Grenfell.

While product data for both described them as suitable for use as part of cladding systems on buildings above 18m in height, they were not suitable in the configuration used at Grenfell Tower. In the case of the ACM panels, the product data said its certification only applied to a specific colour of the material that was different to the one used at Grenfell.

Asked why 鈥� in relation to the Celotex product 鈥� Harley did not seek independent advice, Bailey said the firm trusted the manufacturer.

鈥淐elotex are a major insulation manufacturer,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are a huge operation we do not expect to be misled by them. We trusted what they told us.鈥�

Bailey told the inquiry he had not undergone any training or CPD in relation to the testing of building products and their different fire classifications and had not felt under a duty to do so.

鈥淎s a specialist subcontractor there are a lot of things we鈥檙e involved with 鈥� fire being one of them, but we鈥檙e not fire experts,鈥� he said.

Given the opportunity to reflect on the Grenfell disaster, Bailey said combustible cladding and insulation should be banned.

He said: 鈥淎rmed with what I know now, with the certification, the testing regimes, the caveats, the misinterpretation of the building regulations 鈥� which are not just restricted to us but the whole industry鈥� this stuff: Reynobond, Celotex, Kingspan鈥� none of it would be on the wall.鈥�

Harley Facades鈥� former commercial manager Mark Harris gave evidence to the inquiry on Thursday and was questioned extensively about the firm鈥檚 seeming preference to use ACM for the tower鈥檚 refurbishment 鈥� and Reynobond ACM manufactured by Alcoa in particular.

Harris denied that Harley had been 鈥減ushing Reynobond ACM, or at least ACM, pretty hard鈥� and said the firm had merely been 鈥渁dvising鈥� of ACM as a cost-effective option.

Asked why he had suggested to project architect Studio E that from a 鈥減urely selfish Harley point of view鈥� ACM should be used, Harris said the firm was confident about pricing the job using Reynobond ACM cladding but was suspicious of the final cost of zinc option, Proteus HR.

鈥淎CM always proved to be a good product, a good price, and solved a whole raft of issues for these types of jobs,鈥� he said.

Thursday鈥檚 hearing was told that Harris was paid mostly in commission and earned 1% of the value of Harley鈥檚 work on the Grenfell Tower project, making it worth approximately 拢26,000 to him.

The inquiry continues, with more evidence from Harley next week.